Recent News
Prof. Amina Moujtahid and co-author Jeffrey A. Bennett announce the publication of their new book, The Combinatorial House of Wisdom. The volume presents a guided classical Arabic reader, with selections suitable for anyone with knowledge of the language at the late… Read more
A new major in Global Literary Studies launched at UW in Winter Quarter 2024. Prof. Naomi Sokoloff has played a key role in implementing the GLITS curriculum, which is designed to support study of literature in coordination with MELC and departments across the Humanities. Other MELC faculty members who have participated in GLITS inclue Prof. Selim Kuru, Prof. Aria Fani, Prof. Terri De Young, Prof. Kat Medill, and Prof. Canan Bolel.
How does the new major work? To find out, take a look at the… Read more
The Turkish and Ottoman Studies Program announces two events for Spring Quarter 2024.
As part of the TOSP workshop series, on March 29th NMES Ph.D. candidate Büsra Demirkol will give a talk titled "(Re)producing the Modern Ottoman Woman: Ottoman State Reform, New Medical Science, and the Policing of Women's Bodies in the Long Nineteenth Century" at 12:30 in Denny 211.
On April 18th, Dr. Didem Havlioglu from Duke University will present this year's Walter Andrews Memorial Lecture, a… Read more
Prof. Melike Yücel-Koç has received the Ray Verzasconi Northwest Postsecondary Language Educator of the Year award from the Pacific Northwest Council for Languages (PNCFL). She will be honored at the 75th anniversary gala awards ceremony of PNCFL (March 22, 2024).
The award recognizes outstanding teaching, service, and/or research at the university level and is named for Dr. Ray Verzasconi, Professor Emeritus of Spanish (Oregon State University) and longtime Executive… Read more
The American Institute of Archaeology (AIA) has awarded the 2024 Site Preservation Grant to MELC Associate Professor Stephanie Selover. The grant is for continued work at Prof. Selover’s archaeological excavations at the site of Khirbat al-Baluʿa, an important Iron Age Moabite and medieval Islamic village, located in central Jordan. The grant is intended to fund projects that uphold the AIA’s mission to preserve and protect the world’s archaeological heritage… Read more
On February 1, the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures held its annual Afrassiabi distinguished lecture in Persian and Iranian studies. The lecture series highlights informed and generative perspectives on Iran and Persian literature in a variety of disciplines and topics. The inaugural lecture was delivered in 1999 by Dick Davis, the eminent English translator of Persian poetry and academic. Since then, eighteenth speakers have given talks at the University of Washington.
This… Read more
This year MELC is launching a new summer study program, Arabic Language & Culture in Morocco, under the direction of Professors Amina Moujtahid and Hussein Elkhafaifi.
The program is open to students currently enrolled at UW and also UW Alumni. All former and current students of our first-year and second-year Arabic courses or equivalent and Arabic Media courses are encouraged to apply.
Applications due: February 14, 2024.
For more information and to apply, check out… Read more
The American Association of Teachers of Arabic has selected Prof. Hussein Elkhafaifi as recipient of the AATA Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2024. The association plans to recognize him with this honor at its upcoming business meeting in conjunction with ACTFL, in Philadelphia, this coming November.
The award acknowledges Prof. Elkhafaifi's longstanding commitment to the field of Arabic pedagogy, linguistics, socio-linguistics, and culture. Congratulations!
In Winter 2024 Prof.… Read more
What is the role of writers and what is the value of literature at a time of catastrophe and collective crisis? This presentation by Prof. Naomi Sokoloff considers how Israelis are responding to current events through poetry, fiction, popular song, testimonies, and other kinds of writing.
The talk, scheduled for January 10, 12:00-1:30, is part of a Winter 2024 Lunch and Learn Series sponsored by the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies and co-sponsored by MELC. Lunch will be served.… Read more
Jocelyn Hendrickson, who completed a BA in our department along with a BA in Comparative Religion in 1999, has been awarded the Middle East Medievalists Book Prize for 2023.
Dr. Hendrickson is currently Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Alberta. Her book, Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa, was published by Harvard University Press. Combining legal theory with social history, It focuses on legal opinions (fatwas) from Al-Andalus… Read more